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SEVERAL tons of fish destined for Britain are building up at Iceland's main airport with nowhere to go because of the volcanic ash crisis. Air freighted shipments of seafood have been suspended since Thursday as the whole of northern Europe became a no flight zone due to the Icelandic volcano eruption.
Humberside Airport, near Grimsby, normally receives supplies of freshly caught cod, haddock and plaice from Reykjavik at least four or five time a week, much of it destined for quality end supermarkets like Waitrose. But like everywhere else, the Airport has been closed and the Icelandair flights suspend. However, the regular sea shipments of fish to the Humber from Iceland and the Faroe Islands are continuing so there should not be too much of a problem on the Grimsby and Hull Markets.
HB Grandi’s head of fresh fish sales Solveig Arna Jóhannesdóttir told Fishupdate: "We have seven tonnes of fresh fillets waiting at Keflavík (Reykjavik) airport to be flown abroad, but the situation is very uncertain at present, to say the least. We are in regular contact with our customers in Europe. If any possibilities appear, we will make full use of them, that is as long as our customers are happy with any solutions we can come up with,’
Solveig Arna Jóhannesdóttir added that there was a possibility If Scottish airports are first to re-open, supplies could be flown to Glasgow or Aberdeen and the fish then sent south by road.
The volcanic activity that broke out last Wednesday has already had far reaching consequences for the fish trade been more serious than anything that had been anticipated. The worry is that if there are more eruptions and ash continues to climb into the atmosphere more disruptions to flights from Iceland can be expected.
The only bright note is that so far the eruption has not stopped normal fishing operations around Iceland.
In the UK fish from the Humber - largely salmon destined for the United States - is waiting in chilled conatiners at London's main airports and is unlikely to reach its destination.
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